McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
When is wordy just too wordy?
Shecky:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on June 21, 2011, 02:03:16 AM ---Depends on the style you are doing.
If you're aiming for Alexandre Dumas, an average sentence length of fifty words is not too many; and Dumas endures.
--- End quote ---
There are some readers who think it's more like "and Dumas just doesn't end." :D
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Shecky on June 21, 2011, 02:16:48 AM ---There are some readers who think it's more like "and Dumas just doesn't end." :D
--- End quote ---
People keep going back to the first Musketeers book and Monte Cristo, at any rate. I'll grant precious few people read Louise de la Vallieres these days, and I can see why.
Paynesgrey:
Yeah. but you have to consider your target audience, assuming you have one. Dumas isn't that likely going to sell to people who like a crisper, more modern writing style. Now, if the writer's goal is to emulate a certain writing style or explore/invent a new style without regard for whether or not anyone's going to read it, that's another matter.
In terms of beginning to write though, it seems to me one should master the basics of description, characterization and storytelling before trying to push the style envelope. Much the way Picasso mastered the fundamentals of accurately depicting what he saw before venturing into more stylized work. (Also helps to establish a reader base, if the goal is not simply to write for the sake of writing but to share those stories with more than a handful of friends or niche readers. When the base is established, they will hopefully follow the writer as his style evolves.
jeno:
Another issue to keep in mind is your pacing.
Lovingly described details slow down the action of your story. This is better for introspective passages, or when you want to Make A Point. Short, choppy descriptions (or no descriptions at all) speed things up. It's why thrillers and page turners in general aren't usually praised for their scintillating prose.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Paynesgrey on June 21, 2011, 02:44:14 AM ---Yeah. but you have to consider your target audience, assuming you have one. Dumas isn't that likely going to sell to people who like a crisper, more modern writing style.
--- End quote ---
Dumas may not be an NY Times bestseller, but he's pretty much never gone out of print for more than 150 years, so there is an audience for that.
--- Quote ---In terms of beginning to write though, it seems to me one should master the basics of description, characterization and storytelling before trying to push the style envelope. Much the way Picasso mastered the fundamentals of accurately depicting what he saw before venturing into more stylized work.
--- End quote ---
I think we may be hitting a philosophical disagreement here, in that I don't see style as distinct from those other elements; everything one writes has a style, and that is a thing it seems worth being conscious of. Picasso's early more naturalistic work is work in a naturalistic style, no ?
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